Dale Earnhardt Jr. marvels at his father’s natural road course talent during NASCAR’s limited 1980 schedule

Dale Earnhardt Jr. reflected about his father Dale Sr.'s when the Cup circuit visited Riverside in the early 1980s. The NASCAR legend finished runner‑up in January of 1980 and went on to earn multiple top‑five runs in '81 and '82.

In a clip from the latest season of Becoming Earnhardt 1980, Earnhardt Jr. marveled at his father’s underappreciated skill on road courses, especially given the sparse schedule of one road course during the seasons before 1986, when Watkins Glen was added.

"I'm trying to imagine back in 1980 there wasn't a lot of routes for dad to take in terms of, you know, coming off short tracks, right? How in the hell does he go to Riverside and find his way around that place, much less go out there and be competitive?" Dale Earnhardt Jr. said.

Though Dale Sr. won only one point-paying Cup race on a road course, at Sears Point (now Sonoma) in 1995, his qualifying performances and average finish show the full picture.

Of his 22 career poles in the Cup Series, five came on road courses. The seven-time NASCAR Cup champion also had 32 top-10 and 21 top-five finishes in about 47 races at road courses. His former crew chief Doug Richert also mentioned Dale Sr.'s adaptability during the clip.

"Why was Dale successful? Because he could run at every track there was, right? And he had a natural talent for it. Road courses are just an accumulation of certain type of racetrack corner shapes and entrances and banks that you get yourself through. I really think he adapted more than most people," Richert said.

Becoming Earnhardt 1980 is the second season of the podcast series, which is based on scrapbooks compiled by Dale Jr.’s aunt. As the Cup tour travels across Riverside, Daytona, and beyond, each episode sheds light on the driver behind the legend.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. on inspiration behind the Becoming Earnhardt series

Dale Earnhardt Jr. sourced his new series from his father's older sister Kaye's scrapbooks from Dale Sr.'s 1979 and 1980 NASCAR seasons.

During a Q&A session on the Dale Jr. Download podcast, he shared that his aunt cut out every article and created a book about his father which he found after his grandmother passed away.

"I got these two scrapbooks from my aunt when my grandmother passed away. We went to her house, we were kind of looking through some of the things, photos and all kinds of stuff, and there were these two scrapbooks that my aunt made," Dale Earnhardt Jr. said (00:58 onwards).

The new season focuses on Dale Sr.'s first full-time NASCAR season in 1980, where he split with crew chief Jake Elder. The show also features original radio calls archives from MRN and Appalachian State University.